
12 Nov, 2019
NAVI
MUMBAI, OCTOBER 13, 2018: Supporting the campaign to scientifically
recycle e-waste, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has announced its plans to
set up a Swachh (Cleanliness) Park to spread awareness about electronic waste
that is being increasingly generated by the society.
Participating in the first ever International E-waste
Day (IWED) developed by the WEEE (World Electronic Electric Equipment) Forum,
NMMC Commissioner Dr N Ramaswami said on Saturday that Navi Mumbai would seek
to emerge as a model city handling electronic waste.
At an IWED event at Sadhu Vaswani International School
at Sanpada, he appreciated the initiative taken by Navi Mumbai First Charitable
Trust, Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) and Rotary Clubs of Navi Mumbai
of district 3142, in spreading awareness about scientific disposal of e-waste.
Navi Mumbai has achieved the distinction of being the
second most livable city in the country and ranked among top-ten in Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan. The Swachh Park will seek to create awareness about handling
all kinds of wastes – dry, wet and electronic, he said.
PRCI governing council chairman B N Kumar said his
organization launched a pan-India social media campaign #CheckEwasteMonster to
spread awareness about recycling e-waste. “We also floated an online petition
to the Prime Minister to aggressively include e-waste as part of the
government’s Swachh Bharat drive,” he said and requested all to support it.
Kumar expressed the happiness that NMMC is the only
civic body in the country to participate in the first ever International
E-waste Day as part of the WEEE drive.
Navi Mumbai Mayor Jayawant Sutar, who launched the
collection of e-waste in red bins at the school, said everyone must treat Navi
Mumbai as ‘My City’. Only then initiatives such as e-waste collection would
succeed, he said.
Navi Mumbai First president Rajesh Prajapati said the
city and the country are producing e-waste in alarming proportions. It is
in the interest of all to plan and dispose it of scientifically.
Rotary District Secretary Dr. Jaideep Sensharma said
the thirteen Clubs under the International District 3142 have three initiatives
- Tree Plantation, E-Waste and Solar Energy - as part of their 'Save Nature'
initiative. The Clubs have organised ground events including collection of
e-waste at designated points, he said.
The material will later be handed over to government
approved recyclers, according to Kedarnath Rao Ghorpade, avenue chair-save
nature, Rotary District 3142. The Rotary Clubs will organise regular events
till November 13, 2018 in association with NMMC under the guidance of Tushar
Pawar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, NMMC.
According to WEEE, an estimated 50 million tonnes of
e-waste will be generated globally in 2018. Half of this is personal devices
such as computers, screens, smartphones, tablets and TVs, with the remainder
being larger household appliances and heating and cooling equipment.
Only 20% of global e-waste is recycled each year,
which means that 40 million tonnes of e-waste per annum is either placed in
landfill, burned or illegally traded and treated in a sub-standard way and this
is despite 66% of the world’s population being covered by e-waste legislation.
This results in the huge loss of valuable and critical raw materials from the
supply chain and causes serious health, environmental and societal issues
through illegal shipments of waste to developing countries.
In India, the scene is even worse and very alarming.
Only 5% of the e-waste is recycled despite the government’s emphasis on Swachch
Bharat Abhiyaan and Smart Cities project, India continues to be generating
highest e-waste vis-à-vis China, USA, Japan and Germany, Kumar said quoting a
recent study by ASSOCHAM-NEC.
Sadhu Vaswani International School principal Mangala
Chandrashekhar said involvement school children is very important to make the
movement a success. Lots of e-waste such as computer screens, cords, keyboards,
chargers, printers, bulbs and telephone instruments were placed in red bins
placed at the school after the Mayor inaugurated the month-long campaign. She
also mentioned that the school students had organised an E-Waste Rally to
sensitive the community around the housing societies, in association with
Rotary Club of Smart City.
Jain Jagruti Mandal volunteers will help promote the
ground activity in collecting e-waste from various housing societies.